Sadly, it's probably the "haters" like me, that are big MMO fans, who saw this coming long ago. Instead of listening to us, Bioware tried to do the bidding of the people who have no idea what makes a good MMO.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Seems alot of SWTOR players have forgotten the rocky road torwards SWTOR's launch which stilll continues it's jagged path today but I'll try to refresh their memory. It's kind of hard to say anything good about the way Bioware handled all of this because most of it was bad.

I followed the SWTOR development on and off since 2008. Coincidentally, I was in my "star wars fanboy" phase and playing Star Wars: Jedi Knight Academy a ton. So you can imagine I was pretty excited when I heard about Star Wars: The Old Republic being in development.

Not only this but I was a huge Bioware fan after Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins.

I never paid attention to the forum that much except for a quick peek to see what the community was talking about. It's better to stay away from the forums before the game is released since it's mainly filled with people dreaming and hoping (sometimes dictating) about what will be in the game.

Some years later with Bioware releasing small amounts of content /information on the game, I start to get the feeling the game isn't all it was being hyped up to be.

Well, that along with the EA Louse thing and Warhammer team working on SWTOR...

I actually managed to find more "information" on SWTOR and got into beta. I pretty much went along with the whole "It's beta! It will get better!" idea people usually use to justify their favorite game looking nothing like what they imagined. And though I turned my hype meter off long ago after disappointing games like Warhammer and APB...There was something about this game that was...wrong.

SWTOR is launching with it's "early access" plan over a seven day period. Not only was this probably the worse idea ever, but it made it the worse MMO launch I have ever experienced.

Basically, people who paid the SAME PRICE for the game had to wait in a "que". This que was Bioware letting players into the game in order by which month they bought the game. Now I hope you can imagine how much the forums were on fire at this time. It was the people who were already in the game proclaiming how well a job Bioware was doing vs. angry customers who were...well..angry.

Biowares' whole reasoning for what they label as a "staggered release" was you create a "smooth launch". In other words, they wanted to pretend the servers were stable and would NOT have player ques by letting players in slowly...

That would have been acceptable I suppose...if it actually worked. Which it didn't.

Not only were the servers dead and empty because of this, but there were STILL huge ques. I'm talking, "Wait three hours to get in the game." ques. Then I get into the game and there is barely anyone to play with for group content.

Fast Forward. Leveled up, dealing with tons of bugs (some game breaking, some just annoying) and forum wars continue. Also, tons of exploiters either getting rich off the Slicing. Which nothing was done. In fact, there is a post on the official forums asking how many are millionaires.

Bioware gets tons of negative feedback on the forum about the amount of bugs and broken content. My guild is literally raging, myself included, about how much of the game is either not working properly or just frustrating. Bioware seeks to remedy this by releasing patches.

Now...normally, patches are supposed to "FIX" the game. Most of the patches released either didn't fix what they claimed to be fixing, made things worse or went into the game in what appeared to be untested states.

They claimed to had fixed "ability delay" (When you attempt to click your skills, it won't work if it's right after you do another skill. This leads to you not really being able to time attacks or have fluent effective combat responses) which was still very much in the game. They released the notorious "Ilum patch". Now, EVERYONE knew this patch was going to completely destroy Ilum content. There were so many post about it on the forum Bioware just seemingly ignored.

Well, not seemingly, they DID ignore them because they went ahead and patch it anyways. And sure enough what happened? Here's a clue for those that don't play SWTOR:

There are two factions. One Empire and one Republic.What used to happen was these factions would take turns destroying each
others "war assests" which I agree should have been changed. However,
on almost EVERY server, the Empire outnumber the Republic about 3:1.

The patch Bioware added to the game was one that would FORCE players to fight each other OR collect these "armaments" which have a slow respawn, are only in ONE place and you have to gather 30 of them.

Not only did this destroy Ilum as a "world PvP" zone. It helped most of the Empire players max out their valor ranks in ONE day. They did this by camping the Republic base due to sheer numbers. The guns that were SUPPOSED to keep them out were not working properely (go figure Bioware) and there was low FPS.

What did Bioware do to fix this? Nothing. What did Bioware do to fix the fact tons of Empire/Republic players gained max or near max valor in one day? Nothing.

To be continued....I'll discuss how linear the game is, how broken the end game content was/is, how there is no soul to the game and why legacy 1.2 will not fix the core problems with the game.

Thursday, March 1, 2012

Most of us know that the "Social" system is nothing more than a tedious grind. Not only is it a tedious grind, it's about as "social" as FaceBook and Twitter are.

The "Social" system is NOT being social. It's as artificial as it gets.

SEEING AS HOW LEGACY, CHARACTER, and VALOR LEVELS ARE ALL 50+, I THINK IT'S SAFE TO ASSUME WHAT "SOCIAL" LEVELS CAN REACH...

At the start of this game, the only way you would have a real chance of getting your social level high was by grouping non-stop. Good thing there was very little reason to group other than with flashpoints and heroic areas. Most of which still gained you either no social points or very little.

If you hadn't focused on the "social" levels from the start ( And sadly most of us didn't as this game never really made grouping a selling point but rather an after thought), you are probably either grinding Esseles or trying to get into as many groups as you can for points.

Which is fine.I guess.

If that's what people consider is "standard" in "all" games they play, mindless grinding, then more power to them. However, while they can keep their "social" grind system in place I feel you should NOT have to go through this on every single character. I don't want to "grind" social levels on all my alts especially when "people" keep implying that "rolling alts is the end game".

Most servers are dead or near dead at peak times and very rarely do I find people in that want to even group for heroics. If a month or less, I am almost very sure there will be no one doing them at all. So I shouldn't have to miss out on things just because no one wants to do it or Bioware has succeeded in creating the most antisocial "MMO" ever.

I feel there is no logical reason to grind all your characters social levels just to wear "social" gear. Social gear, you know the stuff most role-players want, is a slap in the face to people that want to role-play to begin with. Not only do they need to be a certain player level, but ALSO a social level?

Anyways...

Social System is flawed and if Bioware wants to keep this flawed idea in the game, at least make it less of a burden by making the levels pass on to your alts.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

MMORPG or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games. I think we "true" MMO fans know what I am talking about

You know, the "MMORPGS" that aren't really MMORPG's but rather games marked "MMOs" to get a piece of the World of Warcraft action. Countless games have been released post-WoW and always under the genre of "MMOs".

Games like APB, Hellgate London, SWTOR, Global Agenda and Guild Wars (1 not 2) just to name ones I have played personally.

Games like these aren't "real" MMOs in my opinion mainly because there is very little that is "massive" about these games and usually no real role-playing elements in them (For the ones that include RPG at the end that is).

You will find that some of these games aren't labelled as MMO "RPGS" but rather MMO "FPS". I like to throw role-playing into the social department though which also makes up what an MMO"RPG" is.

Back on point!

The major things you would notice about some of these games is that the world isn't "restricted" or "guided" as other "MMOs" are. Basically, there is something "massive" about some of these game other than the amount of players subscribed to it for it.

Take World of Warcraft and Lineage 2 vs Star Wars: The Old Republic and Global Agenda for example .

When you play WoW it feels like a world. I can explore, even do things like running my low level from one side of the world to the other. Same goes with Lineage 2. If I don't like my questing area, I could leave and go to another area. It may take some time, but I have a "choice".

Now let's look at SWTOR.

I am restricted to one starting zone until I become level 10. Once I get to level 10, I go to the Republic Fleet , which is obviously encouraged as it has ALL the things you need ironically in an unending circle,(Which is a "hub".For those not sure what a "Hub" is, it's a place created specifically to get players to gather. It's similar to what World of Warcraft did with their Cataclysm expansion)and I can only go to ONE planet until I finish my class mission and get my ship (unless I join someone else on their ship).

Also, SWTOR is heavily instanced akin to APB, which doesn't promote a "massive" experience but rather persistent social hubs. Likewise with Global Agenda, after your first mission and few levels, you are sent to the "central" area where all of the things you need are there.

Games like SWTOR and Global Agenda...AREN'T MMOS. Period. They are "MO's", Multiplayer Online. I say this because once you start "instancing" everything outside of strategic content (usually done to prevent outside interference from completing a specific goal) the game usually is no longer an MMO.

Especially when it's done in the fashion that you can only have 100 or less players in each instance.

What makes it worse is that you don't even have a "choice" to make it a massive experience in games like Global Agenda, SWTOR and APB. They are dictated to you through FORCED instance placement once an area because "full".

So please, stop calling social hub instanced games "MMOs".

I know these developers call there games "MMOs" but the reality is they are not making anything "massive" other than hype.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Either that number is fabricated, based on something else or just not even close to that. And I don't believe anything that comes from EA because anyone not a game industry "noob" knows what EA is good for.

And it ain't customer support.

WE DON'T LIE TO YOU!... UNLESS IT'S ABOUT DLC.

I'm not seeing where these 1.7 million players are in SWTOR.

We have whole guilds that quit the game on my server and my guild makes up the majority of the Republic side active on now.

And most of us are leaving when GW 2 is out.

On top of that, I don't know anyone who either knows this game exist or plays it.

1.7 Million "Active" subscribers...doubt it...

James Ohlen said something a little bit ago about people "wanting SWTOR to fail"...Not only does it make it hard for me to take him serious when resorting to the average forum trolls taunts of "You're a hater" but I think he just really thinks...that SWTOR is something to be considered "creative".

Apparently, he is not looking at the same game I am.

The story is very repetitive. Even to the point where ALL the class stories are basically the same.

"Chase this person down. Stop this "super weapon."

So maybe I am a hater.

I hate shitty games obviously made with a lack of imagination and effort sheerly for profit.

Monday, February 13, 2012

As I struggle through to enjoy SWTOR , I just can't help but wonder if I am being too picky or perhaps just jaded from all the other "Let's get rich quick!" MMO schemes that have been run into the ground post 2004.

Many things bother me about how this game is designed...however, there are just somethings in this game which I can't understand how it was even thought of as a "good idea".

MMORPG.

The main aspect and reason "MMORPG" fans play them is to play with others. At least that's what I think!...

Basically, being social.

Even this game is about that... but done completely wrong.

Being "social" in this game is as artifical as it gets. It's not really being "social" when you have to reward players or lure them with bait just to communicate/play with other players.

Social in SWTOR means grind in SWTOR.

A "Social" Life That Is!

I used to loathe people spamming general chat but I feel I'd rather see
that now then no one saying anything at all other than "LFG HAMMER
STATION" and NPC chat spam.

In fact, in game, there is no real community to be "social" with to begin with. And don't even get me started on the polarized forum community...

Back on point...social is a grind.

And that is mainly because being "social" has rewards that are given as an incentive to get people to group because I feel they [Bioware] knew there wouldn't be a desire for player to want to play with others. Not only is it a grind. It's a tedious boring grind. Even worse when you have to sit through dialogue you have heard 10 million times because one person in your group hasn't. Especially those who only came for "story".

Anyways...

Not only was the "social" system a bad idea, it was created in lackluster fashion. As it stands now, people just grind Esseles over and over. You know why I think that is?

Because most people that play this game didn't group for every single mission they had when they started the game. Gasp. Just like in other MMOs, most people will solo what they can and group when needed. And it didn't really help that the social points aren't even rewarding decent amounts of points.